In the 17th consecutive year hosting the big daddy of all track and field events at the recreation level in Georgia, Larry Turner is bracing for the biggest turnout yet this weekend.

The Carrollton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department track and field coach expects roughly 700 young athletes representing 29 teams from across the state to roll into town today for the GRPA Hershey Hall of Fame State B & C Track and Field Meet at Grisham Stadium. The action begins at 5:15 this evening with opening ceremonies, followed by the preliminary running events at 6 p.m. The field events start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, followed immediately by the finals in the running events.

“Big is putting it mildly ... but we’re just pleased to do it. We’re thankful to [Carrollton High] School for allowing us to use their facilities and plus working with us in all these changes,” Turner said in regard to some scheduling changes CHS made with its high school soccer playoffs.

Along with the preliminary running events, the 1,600-meter finals and 400-meter relay finals will also take place tonight, as well as the standing jump and shot put from the field events.

One of the things Turner is encouraged about within his own squad is the balance it now has, something he credits to the fall cross country program.

One different entity the CPRCAD staff has been working through this year is an electronic timing system, a new requirement mandated by the GRPA.

“We’ve utilized electronic timing for our Kiwanis track meet and the district track meet and it works beautifully,” noted Julie Ivey, superintendent of the CPRCAD’s Athletic and Aquatic Division. “But we have an outside company that is coming in to run it for us and this is new for everybody in the state. So they have to submit their entries several days earlier than normal, and we’ve run into a few little glitches. Belinda [Turner] has been a trooper all week long getting everything put into the high-tech database to get it loaded and sent to the timing company.”

And once again, with so many folks making the weekend trek to Carrollton, it’s another big boost to the local economy — on top of some tremendous action on the track, to boot.

“When you’ve got 700 kids showing up to run, that’s a pretty big meet. Of course, that’s huge for our community, as well. Most of them are going to have to spend Friday night [in Carrollton] and then we’ll get them out by 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon. It brings a lot of boon to the economy,” Ivey said.